Health Department offers help to conquer large waistlines
In the movie, What’s Eating Gilbert Grape, Gilbert’s mother dies after her 500 pounds of body weight collapsed on top of her lungs as she slept on her back.
Although this incident happened only in the movies, it is highly likely for teenagers and adults to develop obesity because of unhealthy eating habits they developed as a child.
Parents should take responsibility to teach their children good eating habits.
According to a press release from the Bear River Health Clinic, 70 percent of heavy teenagers are likely to be overweight or obese adults. Overweight children are at risk for cardiovascular disease, diabetes and other health problems, as well as social discrimination, poor self-esteem and depression.
“Each year, approximately 300,000 U.S. deaths are associated with obesity and overweight. Total obesity-related costs amounted to $117 billion in 2000,” according to the press release.
“Habits are developed early in life and steps must be made to curb this increasing epidemic,” said Emily Smith, a dietitian intern in the Health Department.
So, what can be done to reduce large waistlines?
The first step is becoming aware there is a problem; from there, many options are available.
The Bear River Health Department offers help. Two specific divisions of care are the Women, Infants and Children (WIC) Division and the Division of Health Promotion.
The WIC program is geared specifically toward pregnant women, infants, children under 5, women who have recently had a baby within the past six to 12 months and women who are breast-feeding.
There are certain guidelines a family needs in order to qualify; it is based on family size and gross income. For information, call 792-6451.
WIC focuses on helping people realize there is an on-going development of healthy relationships between parents and children that must be made, Bonnie Farmer, spokesperson for the health department, said.
“WIC helps to prevent problems,” she said. “Children need to establish good eating habits while they’re young.”
It is the parents’ responsibility to provide healthy foods for their children. The parents are the ones who shop and buy the food, therefore, it is their responsibility to make sure healthy foods are available for their children, Farmer said.
“It is harder for the parents to monitor their children’s eating habits once they have grown older and have the influences of their peers and their own money,” she said. “I have four children and when I give them money for school lunches, I have no idea what they buy.”
Instead of focusing on making children eat certain things, it is more important to have healthy choices available for them, Farmer said.
“Children are more apt to choose healthy foods when they leave home if they were raised with healthy eating habits,” Farmer said.
Obesity is measured by a person’s body mass index (BMI), Farmer said. However, people should not only judge a person as being obese only by looking at their BMI.
“You need to look at body composition,” she said. “There are some people who are truly big-boned and others who have a large muscle mass. Testing only a person’s percent-body fat or BMI, does not take into consideration body proportion.”
How a person feels and how a person looks can contradict any tests shown by BMI. All a BMI will tell someone is what experts are technically considering a person’s weight, she said.
“Consider a football player – most of them are in excellent condition, but would technically be considered overweight,” Farmer said.
“People should not be freaking out on the scale,” she said. “Instead, people should measure their weight by buying a pair of jeans that fit them, a pair they feel good in and then monitor when those jeans become tighter.”
A way to lose those waistlines is to engage in physical activity on a regular basis.
“The biggest thing is not what you do, but that you are doing something,” Farmer said. “If you are doing something more than before, that’s improvement.”
Many people promise things to themselves, especially around the beginning of a New Year, Farmer said. Some people hear they are supposed to be exercising three times a week for 30 minutes. Then they commit to doing that and then give up after a week. How can this be prevented?
Instead, people should do what is right for them.
“Today it is a matter of just doing something,” Farmer said. “Find something you like and have a variety. Variety will help you keep interest in what you’re doing.”
She said it is a good idea to do those regular little things like parking the car further from the store, taking the stairs more often than the elevator or bringing a friend along to workout sessions to stay motivated.
Farmer related an experience about a seminar she went to. The program was called the 10,000 steps program.
“Walk more steps each day, make that one change,” Farmer said, about the program’s purpose.
By keeping weight at a normal range, people are less likely to develop disease.
“Commit to an exercise program,” she said.
The Bear River Health Department provides a variety of services to people and students in need. The Division of Health Promotion is a service to more than just women and children.
This division sponsors five-kilometer runs, cancer clinics, car-seat checks and promotes exercising periodically, healthy lifestyles, etc. For more information concerning this division, call 792-6510.